Et tu, Brooke?

This is interesting. Brookings is still often considered the centrist-liberal prestige think tank in Washington. But Brookings actually played a pretty key role in building support for the Iraq War in 2002 and 2003, particularly through Brookings scholars Ken Pollack and Michael O’Hanlon. (ed.note: Full disclosure, at the time I favorably reviewed Pollack’s book and interviewed him, I believe twice, for TPM.)

Now, however, Brookings is hosting an Iraq policy briefing on possible ways forward in Iraq in which the one speaker is AEI ‘scholar’ Frederick Kagan, who’s pushing his study Choosing Victory: A Plan for Success in Iraq. Here’s the blurb from the Brookings email …

The war in Iraq has reached a critical juncture. With the mission faltering, popular and Congressional pressure on the administration to redefine US objectives and commit to reducing troop numbers in Iraq is growing. This approach has taken on added impetus with the recent release of the Baker-Hamilton report, whose suggestions parallel public opinion. In contrast, a group led by Frederick Kagan under the auspices of the American Enterprise Institute has recently released a study proposing a radically new approach for stabilizing Iraq, titled Choosing Victory: A Plan for Success in Iraq. The report proposes shifting the focus of the American military from training Iraqi forces to securing the Iraqi population and containing the escalating violence and increasing American combat forces in Iraq by roughly 30,000 troops. The report lays out why the AEI team believes such an increase would be useful and sustainable for the American military over the long-term.

Frederick Kagan, resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute, will present the recommendations elaborated in the AEI report and Michael O’Hanlon, Director of Research for the Brookings 21st Century Defense Initiative will provide commentary. Kenneth M. Pollack, Director of Research of the Saban Center at Brookings, will moderate.

The discussion will take place in the Stein Room on the second floor of the Brookings Institution at 1775 Massachusetts Avenue, N.W. in Washington, D.C. on Thursday, December 21, 2006 from 2:00-3:30p.m. We look forward to seeing you there.

I don’t know off-hand what other Iraq confabs Brookings is holding on Iraq this month. But highlighting the one truly nutball idea about what to do in Iraq — and none of the more sane ones — seems an odd stance for Brookings.

I also hear that this is kicking up some controversy within Brookings itself. So maybe some of the friends on the inside there can drop me a line and let me know what they’re hearing.

Sen. Thune (R-SD) — up for election in 2010 — is pro-surge.

Feds conclude investigation of the alleged hack of Lieberman’s campaign website… and find no evidence of a crime.

Okay, the first member of the congressional leadership we’ve heard back from: Steny Hoyer is anti-surge.

So far we seem to be getting some pretty wishy-washy responses from members of the GOP leadership. More on that shortly.

AP: “The Pentagon wants the White House to seek another $99.7 billion to fund the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, according to information provided to The Associated Press. The military’s request, if embraced by President Bush and approved by Congress, would boost this year’s budget for the wars to about $170 billion.”

TPM Reader KT on our man Rudy …

Another great line from the bio: “After surviving the fall of the Towers, Mayor Giuliani immediately began leading the recovery of his city as it faced its darkest hour.” Now, I credit Rudy for his handling of this situation and I would never make light of the horror that it was to be in New York that day, especially close by in the financial district as Rudy was. But this line about his “surviving the fall of the Towers” seems designed to give the uninitiated the impression that Rudy escaped from within the Towers that day. It’s another case where the truth is impressive enough, so why stretch for some Superman-like attributes?

For what it’s worth, my recollection is that Rudy and maybe a small group of other city leaders like Kerik perhaps the fire chief did almost get caught in a collapsed or obstructed building shortly after the attacks. (Who can refresh my memory on this?) But, still, yeah — ‘survived’? It’s a bit much.

A TPM Reader makes a pretty good point …

Am I the only one who is bothered by the way the pundits continually point out that Edwards’s or Obama’s lack of foreign policy experience is a genuine weakness, while Guiliani’s lack of foreign policy experience is never mentioned? Unlike Guiliani, at least Edwards and Obama have served in a national office.

Pretty much.

Nancy Pelosi also comes out anti-surge.

Adel al-Jubeir to be next Saudi ambassador to the USA.

Here at TPM we spent a good part of the day trying to find out where the congressional leadership in both parties and in both houses stand on President Bush’s to increase the number of troops in Iraq by 30,000 to 50,000. The basic story was pretty clear: The Democrats are united against it; and the Republicans won’t say one way or another. See the details here in our tally.